The vapour-phase synthesis of indole and its derivatives from aniline or alkylanilines and ethylene glycol or other diols was investigated with the use of a novel ZrO2/SiO2 (5:95 w/w) catalyst to check the applicability of this synthesis to a wide number of alkylindoles. During feeding with alkylaniline, the above catalyst showed catalytic results better than those reported in the literature, and a very good regenerability. In particular, with ethylene glycol, the best yields in the corresponding indoles were obtained when a C-2-C-3 alkyl chain was located in the ortho position to the amino group. The differences in reactivity between aniline and alkylaniline were significantly reduced when the length of the diol chain was increased and eliminated with 2,3-butanediol. On the basis of the above data and those collected sharing the synthesis in single steps, a possible overall reaction pathway was proposed to design a better tailor-made catalyst. It was also indicated that the formation of heavy compounds, which are able to deactivate the catalyst, were not derived from the reagents or the following reactions on the indole formed, but might be mainly attributed to the polycondensation of an aldehyde intermediate. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.